Wednesday, November 2, 2016

The FBI investigation into Clinton's emails is a 'bitch hunt'

It was discovered in March 2015 that during her tenure as U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton exclusively used a private email server for official communications, thus comprising United States security. To insure that no one could see what she was up to, Clinton deleted thousands of emails with a software program called “BleachBit," and an aide to Bill Clinton used physical force to destroy two of Hillary Clinton's phones.

The Justice Department investigated. Last summer the Attorney General recused herself from the email investigation because it was learned she met privately with former President Bill Clinton on the tarmac of the Phoenix airport--a meeting that many believe was intended to escape public notice. Lynch handed off the decision about whether to prosecute to James Comey, the Director of the FBI and an Obama appointee. Comey concluded that Hillary Clinton was "extremely careless" in her handling of classified information, but the FBI's investigation previously was closed with a recommendation that Clinton not be prosecuted.

Last week, the FBI investigation was reopened after FBI agents discovered hundreds of thousands of new emails on the laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton's top aide. Abedin allegedly claimed she had no idea how the emails got there.

Is the FBI's investigation legitimate? Of course not. It's sexism, pure and simple. Time Magazine has published an op-ed by Robin Lakoff, a professor of linguistics at the University of California, Berkeley, in which she writes:

I am mad. I am mad because I am scared. And if you are a woman, you should be, too. Emailgate is a bitch hunt, but the target is not Hillary Clinton. It’s us.

The only reason the whole email flap has legs is because the candidate is female. Can you imagine this happening to a man? Clinton is guilty of SWF (Speaking While Female), and emailgate is just a reminder to us all that she has no business doing what she’s doing and must be punished, for the sake of all decent women everywhere. There is so much of that going around.

Lakoff adds: "It’s not about emails; it’s about public communication by a woman in general."

Lakoff's loony viewpoint needs no refutation--it is self-evidently stupid. But make no mistake, that viewpoint isn't an outlier, it's an official talking point.

This week, President Obama was asked by Samantha Bee to predict how Hillary Clinton will be unfairly criticized, the way he was unfairly criticized, after she's elected: “When Hillary is president,” Bee asked, “what do you think will be the female equivalent of ‘you weren’t born in this country’?”
Obama responded: “I think the equivalent will be: ‘She’s tired. She’s moody. She’s being emotional.” He added, “When men are ambitious, it’s just taken for granted. ‘Well, of course, they should be ambitious.’ When women are ambitious, ‘Why?’ That theme, I think, will continue throughout her presidency, and it’s contributed to this notion that somehow she is hiding something.”

When legitimate criticism is dismissed as sexism, America isn't ready for a female president. We can't have a commander-in-chief who is immune from criticism solely because of her genitalia. We've made this point previously. See here: http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2016/08/is-america-ready-for-woman-president.html

It's time for America to grow up and to call viewpoints like Robin Lakoff's for what they are: bullshit.